Politics & Government

Braintree Reaches High Level of Storm Readiness

Local, state and federal officials provided the Braintree Town Council on Dec. 20 with a sign showing the town has improved its emergency plans.

Braintree has earned an emergency preparedness certification from the National Weather Service for participating in a multi-pronged program that boosted the town's communications systems, weather monitoring and other public safety tools.

Officials from the NWS, the Braintree Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency presented the measures to the during its Dec. 20 meeting at , saying that Braintree is ahead of the curve and that the program will likely see involvement from many more communities in 2012 after a year full of natural disasters, from the snow storms last winter to and the powerful tornadoes that tore through the state, killing several residents.

"It's something that you don't want to have to put together while you're going through the situation," council president Charles Ryan said. "This is excellent work for the Town of Braintree."

Find out what's happening in Braintreewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The program, called StormReady, encourages cities and towns to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations, NWS meteorologist Glenn Field wrote in a letter to Robert James, the head of BEMA, and Amy Carey, a Braintree health code officer, both of whom worked with the other organizations on developing the plan.

StormReady designation provides the town with extra points in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance program and is good for three years, after which Braintree must apply for renewal.

Find out what's happening in Braintreewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Certification is based on six criteria: communications; NWS information reception; weather and water monitoring systems; local warning dissemination, including federal weather radios in public buildings; community preparedness, including education and media outreach; and administrative tools and record keeping.

"Braintree is very proactive regarding public safety," Field wrote in his letter. "You have participated in hurricane drills and given several presentations to clubs, such as the Rotary Club and the St. Francis Ladies Society."

The town has a comprehensive communications system that includes a Criminal Justice Information System at the police station, a subscription to the MEMA alert network, local TV stations, amateur radio, several National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather receivers (at the police and fire stations, Town Hall, the school superintendent's office and a new setup at the ), and the BEMA director's ability to receive alerts on a Google map directly on his cell phone.

To alert residents, Braintree has numerous warning systems, such as a siren at the , 's reverse 911 network and more than 100 local emergency responders hooked into a pager system.

In addition, has a weather station, and since 2006 the U.S. Geological Survey has maintained a river gauge on the Monatiquot River just downstream of the Commercial Street bridge.

"Congratulations on a job well done," Field said.

Councilor Charles Kokoros also highlighted the work done locally by Carey and James. "You go above and beyond," he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here